Oh Dear, Oh Deer: There Are Randy Deer On The Loose in Devon

If you're driving through Devon today then be careful: Your car could be about to attract the attention of some some escaped, randy deer... right in the middle of mating season.

According to the Exeter Express and Echo motorists have been warned that should they encounter the animals the advice is not to sound your car's horn, as it could cause the animals (which are believed to be red deer or Sika) to behave unpredictably.

Of course, if you want to play a fun/terrifying game, you could ignore this advice and see if the stags on the run would prefer to either murder you or get down to business with your car.

Apparently about 20 of the beasts - both stags and does - escaped from Uffculme farm, and have been spotted as far as four miles away. And being mating season, they are apparently likely to be aggressive. As in the deer community nothing sense "romance" like getting furiously angry.

The Exeter Express reports that several sightings of the rogue animals have already been made: One apparently acted aggressively towards a motorcyclist and then ran away jumping a "five bar" fence.

The good news is that one of the fugitives has already been recaptured: Staff at Bridwell Court captured a deer in a "deer-proofed enclosure" on the estate's venison farm in a weirdly specific coincidence.

The worry now is that the deer will remain unstoppable and that they are heading right for the M5 motorway. So drivers are being advised to keep watch of hedgerows and field boundaries, as massive deer apparently do a good job of blending right in (!).